Your summer health drink gets innovative twist

An innovative variant of the traditional healthy drink of summers 'jal jeera' will soon be available in the market. "The new variant 'jal jeera', developed by the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here, is innovative in the sense that it is made in whey, a by-product of cheese," YS Rajput, who heads the institute technology management unit of the central institute, told Hindustan Times on Thursday.

indiaUpdated: Sep 13, 2013 19:41 IST

Vishal Joshi Hindustan Times

An innovative variant of the traditional healthy drink of summers 'jal jeera' will soon be available in the market.

"The new variant 'jal jeera', developed by the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here, is innovative in the sense that it is made in whey, a by-product of cheese," YS Rajput, who heads the institute technology management unit of the central institute, told Hindustan Times on Thursday. The NDRI's dairy technology division has developed the beverage.

"Whey is healthy and popular in the West. It has proved to help in muscle-building and we hope that the drink will find takers among health-conscious people," he said.

A Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)-based entrepreneur has applied to buy the manufacturing rights of the whey-based 'jal jeera'. Rajput said that this week, the NDRI had received an offer from the Bhpoal-based unit for the technology transfer of whey-based 'jal jeera' and the deal would be finalised soon.

To avoid monopoly in the dairy manufacturing sector, the NDRI does not include the clause of exclusive rights in the memorandum of understandings (MoUs).

Last year, the NDRI's microbiology division had developed a low-calorie, carbonated and nutritional 'lassi' that even diabetics can drink. It did not find takers in India, so the NDRI offered the technology exclusively to a company in Germany, where buttermilk is popular. There are at least six popular variants of 'lassi' in Germany.

Rajput said every industry had its market priorities but hoped that the healthy dairy drinks would soon find their way in the Indian market as well.